Free Republic

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian just made a stunning admission that reveals the Islamic Republic's desperate strategic position. In an interview posted to Supreme Leader Khamenei's official website, Pezeshkian declared Iran is in a "full-scale war" with the United States, Israel, and Europe—a public acknowledgment of defeat that represents a geopolitical earthquake for the Middle East. This declaration comes six months after Operation Rising Lion, the devastating 12-day June 2025 conflict that killed 1,100 Iranians including Iran's entire military high command. Israeli F-35 stealth fighters and US B-2 bombers systematically destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz, eliminated IRGC Commander...

Of all the wars I have covered over the past 50 years, this is one of the fiercest and, to be sure, the most forgotten. “Do you know,” says Suliman, former attaché at the Sudanese embassy in France, who joined the army as soon as the fighting began, in April 2023, and will accompany me for a large part of my reporting, “that this war—the fourth the country has known since its independence—has already produced 12 million displaced people and 150,000 civilian victims?” We are in the arrivals hall of Port Sudan International Airport, 20 kilometers south of the city,...

Interview James Bradley: Domino Theory and media lies for imperialist wars, from Vietnam to Venezuela Finian Cunningham December 25, 2025 © Photo: Public domain Best-selling American author James Bradley talks about his latest book, Precious Freedom. Join us on Telegram, Twitter, and VK. Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su James Bradley, author of Precious Freedom Finian Cunningham, author of Killing Democracy Best-selling American author James Bradley talks about his latest book, Precious Freedom, and how the genocidal war against Vietnam (1965-75) was enabled by the U.S. media’s false propaganda of the “Domino Theory.” The theory was that Vietnam was falling under Soviet and...

Pete Hegseth’s Saturday begins with personal training. The Secretary of War, @SecWar on your socials, is very fond of working out with the troops – something most defense secretaries have done without someone dutifully filming the experience for Instagram. Then he heads off to the Reagan National Defense Forum, the annual gathering of war hawks, policy nerds and defense contractors in Simi Valley, California. Hegseth, the veteran of the Global War on Terror, is there to fulfill his mission of denouncing the neocons. “Out with idealistic utopianism, in with hard-nosed realism,” he declares, insisting the United States will no longer...

European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide a massive interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds. After almost four years of war, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Ukraine will need 137 billion euros ($161 billion) in 2026 and 2027. The government in Kyiv is on the verge of bankruptcy, and desperately needs the money by spring. The plan had been to use some of the 210 billion...

American actions involving Venezuela have stirred up a flurry of theories and narratives around the United States’ strategic intentions. Some theories highlight apparent contradictions between rhetoric and policy, such as President Trump’s pardons of major drug-traffickers despite his public anti-drug stance. Others frame potential U.S. military threats against Venezuela as being driven primarily by America’s dependence on oil. Additional narratives have revived allegations of Venezuelan interference in U.S. elections, including claims from a former Maduro regime official about a “narco-terrorist war” against the United States. In my effort to better understand the factors driving the building tensions around Venezuela, I...

The New York Times’ recent report about his government’s responsibility for the worst corruption scandal in Ukraine’s history suggests that the walls are closing in and his foreign media allies are jumping ship out of desperation to retain some of their credibility after years of deifying him. It was earlier assessed that “Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Investigation Is Turning Into A Rolling Coup” after it took down Zelensky’s grey cardinal Andrey Yermak, consequently weakened the already shaky alliance keeping him in power, and thus placed more pressure upon him to cede Donbass. The latest development concerns the New York Times’ (NYT) report...

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order designating fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). Last month, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that the Trump Administration classified fentanyl as a “potential chemical weapons threat” being smuggled on Venezuelan drug boats to justify strikes in the Caribbean and Western Pacific. Now, with Trump’s new classification of the deadly poison as a WMD, this will likely be used to justify the defense of America against drug cartels further. “The manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, primarily performed by organized criminal networks, threatens our national security and fuels lawlessness...

If there is going to be peace, why are we witnessing the largest military buildup in Europe since the end of the Cold War? When it comes to the major players on the geopolitical stage, it is far more important to watch what they do than it is to listen to what they say. And right now the actions that the major European powers are taking are telling us that they are preparing for a huge war with Russia. Ukraine was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle for the European Union. It is an enormous chunk of...

We have reached one of the most critical turning points in modern history, but most people don’t seem to understand this. Without a doubt, 2025 has been a year of war. There has been war in Ukraine, war in Iran, war in Gaza, and lots of other regional conflicts as well. But as I have been warning my readers, 2026 could potentially be far worse. Decisions that world leaders make during the months ahead will determine which way things go. Let us hope that they make their choices wisely. According to CNN, White House officials are coming up with plans...

To order the killing of people shipwrecked is clearly illegal according to military justice, according to our own military laws. If our pilots have to eject from a plane, we show that we don’t shoot people. We don’t shoot pilots that are descending by parachute. If we blow up a boat and there are survivors we don’t shoot those people. We don’t sidle up in a boat and take a nine millimeter pistol out, put it to their head and shoot them. Nobody would do that.” “But just because the missiles come from a long distance doesn’t make it any...

Layoffs have hit American workers hard in 2025, particularly in the government and tech sectors. Already this year, well over a million jobs have been lost due to layoffs—and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like a cessation of job cuts is on the horizon. Reports say that beverage and snack giant PepsiCo is the latest major American company getting ready to announce layoffs. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Monday, PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) issued a memorandum about its intention to enhance shareholder value in 2026.

Zelenskyy Compromises – He Is Ready to Hold Elections... But Under Certain Conditions🤝 MS2025.12.10

With the War in Ukraine now approaching its fifth year and possibly reaching a climatic stage, it’s timely to offer an overview of the situation. This overview has three vectors – the situation on the battlefield, the corruption scandal rocking Kyiv, and the prospects for the success of the Trump peace plan. The thread that connects these three vectors is the role of the Russian Federation and specter of Vladimir Putin. Let’s look at these vectors separately and then unify them in the end. On The Ground The situation on the battlefield is straightforward. Russia is winning the war decisively...

When Ukraine set its sights on NATO and later the European Union, many expected Europe to respond with conviction and purpose. Instead, what emerged was a patchwork of shortterm fixes, hesitant commitments, and political squabbles—a portrait of a continent reacting to history rather than shaping it. Europe entered the conflict improvising, not strategizing. What was framed as solidarity has too often become a cascade of costly, shortsighted decisions that drain wealth, fracture unity, and expose the EU’s lack of direction. Today, the European Union wrestles with economic fatigue and political discord. Member states remain divided over how long support for...

It has been a rough week for everyone in Kiev.Electricity is available only intermittently. Most nights there is a drone or missile strike. And the weather is gloomy and overcast.For president Volodymyr Zelensky, it has been particularly unpleasant. In the past seven days he has lost his chief of staff, the Russians claimed to have taken the strategic city of Pokrovsk, and the Americans have stepped up demands that he make humiliating territorial concessions to buy peace.On Tuesday morning, opposition MPs in Ukraine’s parliament mobbed the speaker’s chair to block Zelensky’s proposed budget and demand the government resign.The reality is...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September following a bombshell Washington Post report that claimed he ordered the military to “kill everybody.” Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike, which reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel after an initial strike. “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting...

[snip] On today's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish approvingly cited Andrew C. McCarthy of National Review, apropos the reported second strike on a narco boat that was allegedly intended to kill two survivors of the first strike. Wrote McCarthy, a former Assistant United States Attorney: "If this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law."Here's a suggestion: what if Audie were to occasionally cite National Review when, as it normally does, it makes the case in opposition to the liberal talking point o' the day? Get the rest of the...

Last week’s surprise release of a draft Ukraine war peace plan has raised hopes that the nearly three-year bloody conflict may finally come to an end. Ukraine has suffered horrible losses that may change the demographics of that country for decades to come. If this peace plan can be negotiated in a way that satisfies all sides and the guns finally go silent, I will be the first to cheer. However, the continued failure to understand the nature and origin of the current conflict leaves me skeptical that a real peace can be reached this way. From the Orange Revolution...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be considered as “closed in its entirety,” an assertion that raised more questions about the U.S. pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. His government accused Trump of making a ”colonial threat” and seeking to undermine the South American country’s sovereignty.The White House did not respond to questions about what Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, and it was unclear whether he was announcing a new policy or simply reinforcing the messaging around his campaign against Maduro, which has involved...